Shattered Star
by Janus-Ekat writer
Summary: Bill Cipher remembered once hearing the phrase; "Boys don't up, they just get taller." He figured it would probably apply just to the Pine-Tree's happy-go-lucky counter-part under the altered motto "Mabel's don't grow up, they just get taller." Never in all of his years as a demon had he been wrong. It's finally here! Rejoice everyone! NOW!
1. Prolouge

_**Coming January 3, 2014…**_

Bill Cipher remembered once hearing the phrase; _"Boys don't up, they just get taller."_ He figured it would probably apply just as much to the Pine-Tree's happy-go-lucky counter-part under the slightly altered motto of _"Mabel's don't grow up, they just get taller."_ But In all of his years as an immortal dream-demon, who liked to credit himself with knowing everything, had he ever been so wrong.

While messing around in some anonymous person's dreamscape as they slept, he felt the familiar pull of someone summoning him, someone in Gravity Falls. Great, just what he needed, the living ventriloquist dummy and self-proclaimed psychic wanting his help. _Again! "How many years had passed since he had received his sentence? 12? 13?" _Rather than go for his usual more intimidating entrance complete with the evil laugh and blue fire, he decided he'd just throw whatever was nearest to him at the person summoning him. Unfortunately, (For Bill's amusement not the one who called upon him.) the nearest object was a mug of lukewarm tea. He felt another tug. "Ok! Ok! I'm going!" he muttered before levitating the cup to follow him.

Splash! Getting over the slight head-rush that accompanied teleporting directly from a dreamscape, Bill failed to notice at the last second who he was sending the tea at. "Shooting Star?"

Flipping her now tea-soaked hair out of her face, she glared at him.

"Awww, is the little shooting star upset? Would it make you feel better if I told you I thought you were Gideon?" He asked mockingly.

She continued to glare at him.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" All remained silent except for the drip-drop of what he assumed was tea.

Drip, drip.

"Well if you just summoned me for the sake of it, I'll be going then." He said uncertainly.

Drip, drip. Her glare was beginning to, unnerve him. Of all his years watching and inflicting anguish, pain, and misery to people, had he ever seen such a shattered and hate-filled stare. And on the least likely person of people too. What had caused such a happy person to make a major U-turn?

"What, did your pig die?" Drip, drip. He certainly hoped this wasn't a plan to vanquish him or whatever. Because no way in hell was that happening. He flicked his eye to the now annoying dripping sound. Was orange pekoe tea supposed to be that red? Mixed in with the tea still falling from her hair was blood.

Finally becoming more aware of his surroundings, the demon realized he was in a partially destroyed and stained Mystery Shack gift shop, stained in what appeared to be blood. Briefly grateful for not having a sense of smell, as it was probably over-poweringly rancid, he looked back at Mabel. Carved into her neck was a red smiley-face, that seemed to be smiling more at the pain it was inflicting on it's owner.

"Shooting Star?" He asked un-certainly.

This seemed more and more like she was planning on getting revenge or whatever it was he hadn't done _yet _on him. Key word being _yet_. Her look changed to one of frustration. It read;

_"You're a mind demon! Just read my thoughts to see what I'm trying to say!"_ Clearly not picking up on the look she gave him, she changed tactics.

In vain she looked for something to write with. The whole shack seemed to be devoid of any writing utensils. Taking a shaky hand, she carefully used her finger to dab some of her blood away from a cut and began to trace faint-reddish words on the inside of her other arm.

_"You're a mind demon, so read mine!"_

_"I thought you knew everything, how come it took you so long to figure out a solution?" _She snapped, in a voice much un-like the last time he had heard her.

"Don't challenge my all-knowing!" He hissed back at her. She stood un-flinching at his tone.

_"Well anyways, can you fix this?"_

Bill looked back down at her throat, it looked like the eyes on the face were almost crying blood now. While he could probably stop the bleeding, he couldn't fix vocal chords. His demon powers were limited when it came to doing things like repairing things, other than himself or his few belongings. Giving a quick snap of his fingers, he tried to patch it up. But to no avail.

Mabel's eyes widened, if Bill hadn't been blocking out those pesky emotion-thingies for a while now, he was sure he would have felt rueful. But instead he gave a small shrug and decided to switch tactics.

"So how come I haven't been attacked by Pine-Tree yet?"

Clearly it was the wrong question to ask. Any emotion that showed in her eye's before disappeared replaced by an un-natural misty vacancy. When he tried to see what she was thinking, she shook her head, and farther prying resulted in her just thinking about the last song Several Times wrote before their mysterious break-up, driving him away from her thoughts.

Giving a nod to assure her he wouldn't try again, (For now that was.) Mabel allowed him to hear what she had to say.

"As much as I like to pride myself in being all-knowing, what-"

_"Gideon happened."_

"Hmph, figures. Why don't you just go defeat him with your grappling hook like you did as a kid?"

Her eyes narrowed as the words he thought he'd never hear crossed her lips, stinging the air in whipping bitterness.

_"I've grown up. And so has he."_

**_Janus-Ekat Writer's _**

**_ Blazing Star _**

* * *

**Mwah Ha! Ha! Ha! What did you guys think? It's definitely going to be of one of those more serious fics. I tried to write it out in a "Gideon Rises" style where there is still a little humor. But seeing as this is the pilot chapter, there isn't as much? Did I hook you into it? Yea the title is a little stupid, any suggestions?**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, how was the wait? Were you slowly suffering at the fact that I had to tie up a few loose ends while you waited for this? (One of those loose ends was drawing cover art for this.) I was amazed at all the positive response I got in such a short time! Lucky for you guys, I have the first 5 or so chapters ready to go and a 6th on the way, so we get nice regular updates! Perhaps I should have warned you ahead of times, there is mentioned character death, OOC Mabel (with the exception of dreams, flashbacks, and memories.) and romance. (But not much of it.) We won't have anything on Mabel's current state of mind till later, and even then, it's brief. Also, whenever she talks it will be in italics because she's not actually speaking out loud.**

**Anyways, important character revelations. **

** With Bill, I like to go the common route of no, he doesn't have emotions, I**** slightly go off the path here. I don't belive he is totally without feeling. I like to belive that he has the ability to slow down his feelings for long periods of time, sort of like a long delay in reaction. He has a relatively strong tolerance for some of the more touchy-feely things. But emotions and subdivisions into them like anger, frustration, and annoyance, are harder to control and are portrayed more often. Unfortunately, emotions will catch up with him every now and then, and boy it isn't pretty.**

**Also, more on the connection between Bill and William will be revealed in time.**

**Finally, I like to keep him ageless you'll notice that it will say; "years" and then included "(Or was it decades? Centuries? Millenniums?)"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls and make no profit off of this. Even though I totally should!**

* * *

_Her eyes narrowed as the words he thought he'd never hear crossed her lips, stinging the air in whipping bitterness._

_"I've grown up. And so has he."_

* * *

Bill looked over at Mabel who was collecting wood for a fire by the edge of the forest around the destroyed Mystery Shack. After the blunt statement on her part, she hadn't allowed Bill to hear anything else. How she was able to have Several Times in a constant stream in her head was beyond him. She refused to give him any specifics on what had happened, and attempting to pry into her mind was simply painful on his part.

Over the years she had indeed grown up. Gone were her colourful sweaters and headbands. She seemed to have replaced the colourful sweaters with a charm bracelet that had a few familiar symbols on it. There were only four in total, a shooting star design, a claw shaped object, a question-mark, and a pine-tree. Not only had her clothes changed her body had certainly-"

_"Can you light this for me please?" _She cut into his thoughts, holding out a branch.

"I don't know can I?" He replied before lighting it in blue flames with a snap of his fingers.

Neither of them were quite sure how she was able to cut into the thoughts of others after her throat was slit and vocal chords mangled. Normally this was something only a few powerful supernatural creatures could do. He watched her swallow painfully as she carefully walked back slightly cupping the fire with one hand to prevent any sparks from igniting the dry grass, remaining unflinching as the fire came dangerously close to her hand.

"So what's the plan?" He asked her as she placed the stick onto the others.

Next would come the part that Bill expected. She would say she didn't have one and he could charge extra for coming up with one. And instead he could charge-

_"Simple, vengeance." _She cut into his thoughts again.

_"We need to find a safe route to where Gideon is hiding, he's able to see almost everywhere in the vicinity from the factory, and then we take him down.__ After that you can do whatever you want with this place. I have nothing left to live for anyways..." _She trailed off, her face alight with the eerie blue glow from the fire. Making what she had just said all more disturbing.

Bill stared at her in disbelief.

Mabel noted his strange expression and raised an eyebrow. _"What? Were you expecting me not to have a plan so you could charge extra?"_ She asked him sweetly.

_"Mr. Cipher, you can't seem to grasp the fact that I've. Grown. Up." _She hissed the last part through her teeth.

Feeling his temper flare, (The one name that ticked him off and she figured it out!) he restrained himself from hurtling profanities (Or balls of blue fire.) at her and instead replied;

"Believe me Shooting Star, I can."

Mabel flinched at the nickname,

_"Don't call me that." _She said quickly.

"I'm going to need to change my appearance, you may not be aware of it, but I glow in the dark. That's not exactly conspicuous you know."

Mabel looked uneasily at him and began twisting the bracelet around her wrist.

_"Won't that cut off some of your powers?"_ She asked slowly.

He gave her a shrug. Mabel narrowed her eyes.

_"Ok, but you better not try anything."_

"Believe me, I wouldn't dream of it. Ha, ha! Get it? Dream!"

_"Hilarious, tell it to comedy central. Just change already!"_

"I'm a demon, I need someone to replicate, I can't just create a whole new appearance for myself. And last time I tried that I was defeated by teenage hormones. You human beings are so sweaty and awkward!"

Mabel almost felt laughing at the last part, but the more pressing matter of finding a disguise was at hand.

_"Good job on thinking this part through. Just replicate someone you've seen before. And don't turn into a teenager. I don't know why it was so hard for you to not think of that before."_

Again she received what could be presumed as a scowl, before he floated over to the trees.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm this desperate." He said to himself. "Forced to sink as low to joining forces with a Pines!"

_"You could easily just dispatch of her now you know..."_

_"It's not polite to kill people you've made deals with."_ A familiar voice at the back of his mind chimed in.

Bill snorted in amusement. "Ha, not polite. That's a sure way to put it." He said aloud.

Suddenly, he paused. "Wait, if you're who I think you are-"

_"I can't exactly leave you alone if I'm trapped in here." _The voice replied before he could finish.

"Why can't you just shut up, and stop playing a role of the conscience that I. Don't. Need!?"

_"Because you need a conscience?" _It asked innocently.

Bill sighed in frustration. "Fine, you know what wise-guy? I'll just use _your _body as a disguise, and when _your _body gets harmed I can just leave _you _to deal with it!"

_"Hehe, umm don't worry, that's not needed! I'll just go now! Bye!" _It said hurriedly before seemingly disappearing for the time being.

He shook his head in frustration. How he wasn't crazy already amazed him. Wait, right, he already was... So much for that analogy. Actually, that could be useful. Snapping his fingers, he felt the familiar sensation of his features changing. Walking with a slight limp, seeing as he was used to floating everywhere. Mainly because liked to say that the very ground of the planet was beneath him. Both figuratively and literally. He made his way over to a still pool of water by the edge of a small stream.

Grimacing at his reflection, he turned away from the pool of water.

"William C. Or should I say Mr. Cipher." He hissed to himself darkly.

It wasn't the refection that had bothered him so much. He reflected as he brushed floppy blonde hair out of his eyes. (As long as his bow-tie and hat were in place, he could care less about his appearance.) But rather the feeling of inhabiting the old body made him feel slightly vulnerable. Not that anyone would be able to hurt him demon form or not. William had been a strong character, almost like Mabel herself. Even after being trapped in limbo like this for how many years? A decade? More? Once he adjusted to possessing his body again, his powers would come back with it.

If the poor sap had any control over his actions these days he was sure he would have gotten along well with the Pines twins. He felt one of his blue bordering on grey eyes (Why did they even need two?) twitch with annoyance when he went to straighten his tie, only to find it wasn't there, and in it's place was a simple knotted string forming a necklace with a bow-tie charm on it. Sighing, he walked back out of the trees.

* * *

Mabel glanced up from her place by the fire as he walked back before quickly averting her gaze.

_"You look like a stick-figure cross between all the members of Several Times." _She informed him.

"I'm going to take that as a *yawn* complement."

Mabel looked back at him questioningly.

_"Are you tired? That's sort of ironic for a dream demon."_

"This is stupid. How do you human beings need two eyes to see?" He asked rubbing his eyes.

_"Admit it, you're tired."_

Stifling a yawn he feebly said;

"Nonsense! I'm Bill Cipher! Dream-demon extraordinaire!"

_"You might want to take a rest before emotions set in on you." _She pointed out.

I don't need slee-"

He attempted to add before slumping to the ground.

* * *

Bill looked over at Mabel as she slept. He wasn't too crazy about spending long amounts of time in William's body, so instead he decided he would only use it when a disguise was needed or he didn't want to glow in the dark. Once those stupid emotion things had settled down he had taken a rest; Something he hadn't done in years, (Or was it decades? Centuries? Millenniums? How many human-years were in a demon-year again?) making him feel very uncomfortable. He was a dream demon, it was sort of ironic for him to sleep let alone have dreams.

Mabel twitched and shuddered suddenly. When asleep her mind would be totally unguarded, allowing him to discover any hidden motives she might have. He could have a clear advantage if needed...

"_Hmm. Maybe a little peak at what she's thinking couldn't hurt." _He thought to himself. Out of years,

"_Or was it decades? Centuries? Millenniums?" _He wondered aloud. "How long ago had I possessed William? And then subtract that by te-."

Anyways, out of extensive practice he was able to slip into her mind.

* * *

_**~~~~~Inside Mabel's Head~~~~~**_

_"But know this." A__ dark voice said. Unlike the original owner, it continued to echo turning deeper and darker until it faded._

_"A darkness approaches, a day will come in the future when everything you care about will change."_

* * *

Mabel gave a quick yelp before jumping off the ground. Catching her breath, her pulse pounding she took in her surroundings as her brain processed the previous days events. As her thoughts cleared and became more coherent, she turned to Bill who was pretending not to look at her while winding a black pocket-watch.

"_Wait a minute." _She said to herself hesitantly.

_ "You were trying to read my thoughts while my guard was down!" _

"What? No I wasn't." He replied in attempted neutrality, as he scooped up the blue fire from the ashes of last night's fire, before extinguishing it with a flick of his hands.

Mabel narrowed her eyes in the bright morning light.

"_I don't remember my dreams." _She started he voice taking on a darker tone. "_With the exceptions of the times when you decided to get revenge on me via nightmares when I was twelve."_

Now any of his forced neutrality was gone as he returned the glare.

"You had and still have, no idea what you cost me." He snapped back venomously feeling his temper flare and wrists light up in cerulean flames at the memory.

Mabel paused her glare momentarily, as if something had come to her and then returned with an even fiercer one.

"_You."_ She whispered so darkly he felt his glare waver, _"You, knew."_

"Care to elaborate drama queen?" He asked her, unsure how to respond to her statement.

"_You knew this day would come! You knew Gideon would-" _She stopped abruptly eyes widening in pain, as her throat began bleeding again, the eyes and mouth of the deep cuts slowly crying blood tears.

"Newsflash Shooting Star, I'm all-knowing. Sure I gave you and your brother a warning. But you disregarded it."

"_Then why did you need to see what I was thinking?" _She challenged, her teeth gritting through the pain.

While he couldn't feel the heat from the flames around his wrist, the demon knew if she didn't get to the point, he would end up losing it.

"Very clever." He started avoiding the answer. "You know, if the conversation continues like this I'll probably end up burning down the whole town."

Mabel gave him a look that seemed to say; _"Are you sure you know everything?" _before replying;

_"It's a bit hard to burn ashes."_

* * *

**Ha! Left you guys with another cliffy! Not really though. **


	3. Chapter 2

**I'm being nice to you guys and giving you a little early update. After this, it will be on a strict weekly scedule, untill I decide not to keep it on a weekly schedule and end up updating early everytime someone says update soon please! It's so hard not to when you have a portion of the story already writen out and waiting to be read. Must. Not. Update. half of story! **

**Still, this is just one of those little short transition chapters to keep all the exciting things from happening at one time. Next week's chapter is a doozy and you'll all be sufering at the hands of Zim- I mean Janus-Ekat Writer! (Sorry, my inner monolougue was coming out, it just so happens to sound like Zim from "Invader Zim.") When you see the cliff hanger I'm talking about. We wouldn't want your brains exploding. Do you know how hard it is to get brain guts out of a carpet?!**

**Disclaimer: Me? Owner of Gravity Falls? Ha! Nope!**

* * *

_"It's a bit hard to burn ashes."_

* * *

Gideon glared outside looking at the setting sun from the wall to wall windows facing the west. The smoke on the bloody horizon did little to lighten his mood. Where there was smoke, there was fire, this one consuming the remains of the destroyed town. Only a few structures remained as per his request. The police station, the diner, the Gravity Falls concert hall and buffet, and not by choice the swimming pool. Mainly because the swimming pool was too hard to burn being filled with water. Instead, he would just have to redecorate it, or build something like a waterpark of doom around it. He was still working out the bugs on the latter.

He turned away from the window and looked down at the floor of the factory, the same one that once belonged to his parents (Well, really just his father as his mother was too far gone.) to produce his merchandise before he was proven a fraud by those stupid Pines Family.

His mood lightened a little more at the thought. There was only one loose end that could soon be tied up, like she had said to him many years ago; The view from the factory was nuts. No one could approach him without being seen. He smiled again about the benefits of using this as his base. Merchandise wasn't the only thing it had been producing all these years, and soon the gateway would be complete.

The flames had finally extinguished now, rubble from buildings still lightly smoking as they cooled. So maybe allowing McGucket to use his I-Told-You-All-I-Would-Get-My-Revenge-Bot wasn't the most productive idea, but it was more satisfying to watch the aftermath of. Now that the wooden and what few brick buildings had been demolished, construction of his new, and expanded Gideon Land could commence.

Gideon stepped away from the window and around a workbench covered in blueprints for the new town. One chalk outline displayed where the entrance would be, another showed the skeleton of the security grid, and his personal favourite, the prints that were drafted and covered in heavy amounts of the white chalk for his new Gideon-Bot that McGucket had been working on non-stop. Although the other older plans from long, long ago couldn't be written off either.

While the sheets were a more faded navy-blue and the lines were smudged and spread around the sheet, raising little white clouds every time they shifted, they were by far the most important. These, were for the recovery of all the Mystery Shack and it's possessions, while the others were of a different nature. Spread across a wall, elaborate patterns and ciphers cris-crossed the page forming almost ornate shapes and patterns, seemingly undecipherable at a first glance. Well, they were undecipherable to all but a handful, what with one with his brains scrambled and mashed into an incoherent, insanity-inducing pulp, the other was probably still mad at him for breaking a deal with him, and the last two were-

"I'm Old Man McGucket!" An elderly bow-legged man screamed as he ran, or rather jigged into the room.

Gideon just sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, I know who you are. You've been working for me for the past year!"

"I was thinking that with yur' robot I could give it-"

"For the last time, we are_ not_ giving it musical spoons, or the ability to play the banjo." He cut in knowing already what he was going to say.

The bearded man then walked away looking slightly dejected, with a slight from muttering something akin to "Awww donkey spittle, banjo polish."

Gideon just rolled his eyes, the old man had asked that question every day for the past year ever since he had broken out of prison. While he seemed too eccentric and crazy to do anything other than be a nuisance, and not to forget that he was old and probably was succumbing to elderly problems to boot, causing him to have memory problems, he was in actuality a mechanical genius. Capable of building a vast array of things.

It had been McGucket who had originally designed the basement in the Mystery Shack, and it would be him to do the same here in his old "Lil' Gideon" merchandise factory. Just as soon as he got him to remember who he was and that he would _not_, allow his new Gideon Bot banjo playing abilities and musical spoons.

* * *

If he was surprised, he didn't show it and instead floated in a slow looping pattern while flipping through what appeared to be a newspaper in some undecipherable characters. "Gideon?"

_"Actually, he allowed McGucket to test out his new I-Told-You-All-I-Would-Get-My-Revenge-Bot." _

"He actually called it that?" He asked, making the paper vanish with a flash of blue.

_"Would I lie to you?"_ She asked innocently.

"Yes."

_"But you' d be able to tell since you said yourself that you're all knowing."_

"Are you just going to question my superiority every chance you get?" He asked exasperatedly

_"Most certainly."_

"So what's going on with the citizens then?"

_"Probably dead, or were dumb enough to have sided with Gideon."_

"Figures."

* * *

Mabel sighed in frustration as she stepped around another singed bird. They had been walking through the Gravity Falls woods for hours now while it was still light and supernatural creature-free. While Bill simply floated along, she had to struggle and beat up her feet through the forest floor dodging branches, rocks, leaves, and the occasional height-altering crystal. Unfortunately, this lead to a case of extreme boredom in the demon.

_"Is that really nessicary?" _

Bill, who was floating around lazily while aiming fireballs at the wood-peckers gave her the simple reply of;

"Yes."

Feeling something squish under her foot, she gave him an exasperated glare, already knowing what it was she had stepped on.

_"Really?"_

"Why does it bother the poor wittle' shootin' staw that I'm hurting hew' little fowest' fwiends?" He asked sarcastically.

_"Hilarious."_

"Fine, here's a little history for you. These stupid birds," He started, twirling his hand so a cane appeared in it.

"Are said to be, -and they were right for once-, is that they're guardians of the mind. For some reason, they love to hang around the Gravity Falls Forest. With too many of these around, preforming the job as the best and only dream-demon can be quite problematic."

A sharp "thwack" was heard as he took aim at another unsuspecting bird, which fell back lifeless at Mabel's feet.

"And boy do I hate problems."

* * *

**Next week is a nice, boring continuation to their journey. Which is code words meaning "I'm lying and you'll never guess what happens next."**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello my wonderful fans, this chapter happens to be rated a very, very strong "T." So don't say I didn't warn you. Any flames will be redirected due to the fact that I'm a fire bender. Unlike most of my stories, which are under the "T" rating because I feel like it, and I'm unsure whether or not the fanfiction police would come knocking down my door if I made it K+, this fits the (wait for it) Bill! Ha ha! Get it?! Bill?! Ok, ok I'm leaving. but before we can do that, **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

**Jan 11, 1014: I had to re uload this chapter because it was being weird.**

* * *

_"And boy do I hate problems."_

* * *

She rolled her eyes after his little "dramatic" speech and continued to walk ahead only to stop and pick up something from a tree branch. A very familiar lumberjack's hat. Mabel's eyes widened and she rushed into the trees.

Fighting back the slight urge (It seemed William was still hanging around.) to call her back before some supernatural creature decided to make an appearance, he turned into William seeing as the sun was setting. Unfortunately, that didn't exactly help his evil agenda. And followed her though the trees.

Shielding his eyes (Again, why two eyes!?) from the last dying rays of the sun, he made his way though the foliage into a small clearing where Mabel came into sight. A grove of birch trees was on the other side of the forest, you could almost draw a line from where the tall redwoods, oak, maple, and pines grew, and where the birch and only birch started.

She stood with her back to him, staring into the dark depths of the birch side of the forest.

The demon-in-an-old-allies'-body took a few steps forward read to chew her out for running off, but instead shrank back as she slowly moved closer to the dark side of the woods her face impassive and hollow, giving nothing away to her current feelings at the moment.

Risking a cautionary check into her mind as to hope her thoughts weren't blocked via music, he tuned into her thoughts.

* * *

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left." _She said, or rather thought to herself as she walked deeper into the woods, focusing on keeping her thoughts collected and not panicky. If there was a chance Wendy or the others were in the woods somewhere, they would stand a better chance.

Suddenly, she felt something brush the top of her shoulder. Feeling her pulse quicken, the monotone directions became more frantic.

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

Still, the feeling persisted. The soft touch of whatever it was continued and became more and more frequent. She tried to control her thoughts and keep from falling apart but was slowly cracking. Finally, she grew enough nerve to look up and around into the trees.

Swinging in the mid-summer's breeze were the pale soles of someone's feet.

Gasping in surprise, and then pain when her cuts split open again in roaring, searing pain, she backed away from the body, only to feel another tell-tale dreaded tap-tap. She slowly turned around in a circle, suppressing what would have been a silent scream.

Gently swaying as if to some hidden melody, were corpses. The bodies of the citizens if the now destroyed Gravity Falls hung in the trees, with rope necklaces crushing their throats. Her thoughts became more wild.

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_RightleftrightBreathleft."_

"_RightleftrightBreathleft!"_

"_RIGHTLEFTRIGHTBREATHLEFT!"_

"_**RIGHTLEFTRIGHTBREATHLEFT!"**_

More and more familiar faces appeared as she progressed.

"_Right, left-"_

Steve, the mechanic.

"_right. Breath, left."_

Toby Determined

"_Right, left, right-"_

Manly Dan and his sons.

"_Breath-"_

Tyler.

"_left."_

Candy and Grenda.

Soon, not only did the faces get more familiar, the number of wounds on the bodies were more than the dislocated neck bones and sore, red and blue lines the nooses left. Gashes and cuts riddled holes in the faces and arms of the hollow, glaze-eyed faces of the people.

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left." _

On, and on went the walking nightmare, and the little stabbing pains she felt after recognizing someone slowly abated.

"_Right, left, right." _

_"Breath, left."_

After what felt like hours of stumbling around in a stupor, the number of bodies began to fall. Just as the thought she was free from the forest of flesh, blood, and suffering, another open space appeared to her.

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left."_

"_Right, left, right. Breath, left." _

Hung out like laundry to dry on a line, holding hands in a final last act of comfort before the end, were Soos, Wendy, and Stan.

* * *

**I bet you all hate me now for (A) killing off a bunch of people, and (B) leaving with another cliff-hanger. If you have a problem with either of those things take it up with the complaints department. (holds up trash can) Zing! Don't worry about it, just let me to the thing, I'm the author, of course I know what I'm doing. You dare challenge the supreme authority of Zim?! Sorry, meant Janus-Ekat Writer. (That was for you The Design Nerd.)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls**

* * *

_Hung out like laundry to dry on a line, holding hands in a final last act of comfort before the end, were Soos, Wendy, and Stan_

* * *

She stared in horror at the gory sight before her, immobilized for what felt like forever in a death grip. It could have been seconds, it could have been years. Maybe she would have stain frozen to the spot forever until Bill called her name.

"Shooting Star?"

_"Go away Bill." She said turning around to face him._

"Sh-"

_"I said, leav-"_ She cut in, only for him to take her shoulders and turned her to face the horrid sight.

"They're fake Shooting Star, an illusion." He murmured quietly, making her watch as one of his hands passed though the illusion as if nothing was there.

_"B-but I could feel..."_ She trailed off, trying herself to see if the demon was telling the truth.

"They can touch you, but you can't feel them." He explained paitently.

But it fell on deaf ears as Mabel pulled her hand back, something had materialized in her hands. Opening her palm a little wider, she was able to see that a small neat and perfectly folded paper was in her hands, looking especially neat on her bloody and dishiveled hands.

She slowly unfolded it, and read it over. Her pupils dilated and her grip on the paper wobbled on her feet a little. The demon vaguely wondered if it was caused by fatigue. How the girl was continuing on despite having not eaten in the three or so days they had traveled. But he wasn't too intrigued. If she wanted to starve herself to death, she could. No note from a ridiculously pale Barbie doll should be _that_ bad. Quickly he steadied her shoulders and snatched the paper out of her hands.

_My dearest,_

_ I certainly hope this clever ilussion didn't worry you too mutch. But you know if you had complied to my offer before..._

The demon didn't need to finish the letter to know what the rest contained. Endearments, threats, and most likely promises of his "ever lasting love" to Mabel. He let the paper burn as blue flames curled around his hand. She stood leaning against him, her head buried in his shirt. He stood aloof, unsure as what to do with his arms at his sides. He briefly brought his arms to her and awkwardly wrapped them around her and gave her hair a few pats. She remained shaking and blocking out the world for a few more minutes before silently brushing him off and taking the lead.

They continued for a little while, without any event. After a few hours of traveling, they stopped for the night when she wordlessly decided to curl up around the roots of a tree and fall asleep.

* * *

His eyes glowed a dim blue as he looked at her sleeping form, her mind fraught with nightmares and worries no doubt. He knew that after today's events he wouldn't be getting any sleep. He froze, realizing something. Here was the last root of the Pines family, sleeping across from him, completely vulnerable. His stare slowly turned into a glare, and then into a look of pure maniacal hatred. Slowly he walked over to her, until he was standing almost next to her. He leaned closer to her face, hand outstretched as if to almost caress her cheek. His lips were almost against hers, their breath mingling. He took his hands and wrapped them around her throat and began to squeeze.

* * *

**Ha ha! You soooooooo thought that they were going to kiss! I bet you anti-shippers were all like; **

**"Oh noes! they're going to kiss!"**

**And all the shippers were like**

**"Yes! Romance!"**

**But nope! And now both sides have to change it to; "Oh noes! He's trying to strangle her!"**

******Yes, I do get a cruel sense of fun out of doing stuff like that to you guys. I'm an author, what can I say? My short nick name is _Evil Ekat_ for a reason. ** See? I told you all not to flame, and just let me do my thing. I may be cruel, but not enough to kill off people like than in an anti-climatic way. Well, I guess it was sort of climatic, but to have then die the same deaths as a dew small characters would just be lame. Or does it make me even more evil because I strung you guys up, made you wait a week, and then found out it was all a lie. Or was it? Are your heads messed up yet? Don't worry about the two lovers-I mean nemisises over there, strangling the person you love but don't know yet is quite common. 

**Evil Ekat sighing off!**


End file.
